Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750

Model of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye from Modern Architecture: International Exhibition [MoMA Exh. #15, February 9-March 23, 1932] Photo: Modern Architecture, International Exhibition. 1932. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photographic Archive.

Barry Bergdoll, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at New York's Museum of Modern Art and professor of modern architectural history at Columbia University, will present the 62nd A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts Series. The Mellons are among the most prestigious art history lecture series in the world and have been delivered annually since 1952 at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. For this year's series, Bergdoll will present "Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750."

From Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling in 2008; as part of the show, five pre-fabricated houses were constructed at full scale in the empty lot adjacent to MoMA. Photo: Thomas Griesel. Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. 2008. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The sequence of the six lectures evolves through time, discussing the challenges and techniques of exhibiting architecture and how these ideas have been developed since the mid-18th century. Bergdoll will address the importance of these techniques and how they have been crucial to architecture's stake in evolving the discourse of modernity.

The lecture series will take place every Sunday at 2:00pm from April 7th through May 12th in the East Building Auditorium of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. They are free and open to the public. To read more about the lecture series, click here.